• Jun. 5, 2008 - experimenting
We put together a decomposition chamber today. Then I let the kids make terrariums. Emily had been asking questions about water which led to discussions about the water cycle. I thought it would be good for them to watch the water collect and "rain down". When I moved the soil bag to open it we found several snails.... this led to creating a snail habitat so Noah could keep his pet snails. Now Noah is conducting his own experiment. I guess you could say that he is discovering what dissolves in water and what doesn't. I asked him what he was doing. He said I am just making something. I asked him what he thought it would be. He said he was just waiting to see what it would turn into. I think he is fascinated in how things can change from one thing into another. When ever he builds things he creates things that transform from one thing to another. Now he asked me if what he has mixed together will turn into soil. I wonder how many ants it will attract before it turns into soil (he put candy in the mixture as well.)
 The container on the left is our decompositions chamber and the jar on the right is the snail habitat.
Emily has been doing many experiments as well. Hers have consisted of building a habitat for a Turtle.... which ended up escaping its habitat, growing grass in the turtle's habitat that it never was able to enjoy since it went on to other pastures and digging up and transplanting little plants from my gardens that have sprouted up. Her favorite experiment was collecting bird seed that I had spilled on the deck and dumping it onto some soil that she put in a box for the turtle. She has really enjoyed watching those seeds sprout.
Here is a close up of the little plants. If you look carefully you can see drops of water that have transpired from the leaves. It was fun talking about the difference between transpiration and dew.
 |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Mar. 29, 2008 - Friday's hike on Blueberry Trail
Friday after some other plans fell through (because of weather  ), the kids and I went hiking on a 3 mile hike on what is called the Blueberry Trail. Starting out I didn't really plan to do the whole hike. I thought we would just hike maybe to the top of the mountain and then back down.
The first part of the hike zig zags up the mountain.
Noah had fun pointing out some trees that he could remember and we took photos of a couple of interesting plants that we found.
 This is running cedar.
 This is a club moss. There are several but I am not sure which one this one is.... maybe shinning club-moss.
 Noah never admitted to needing a rest but when winded always asked me if I needed a rest.
 He is still relatively clean at this point. He wasn't by the end of the hike 
 Here are some views as we neared the top of the mountain.
 When I worked at Wesley Woods (*cough* 12 years ago), we were just beginning to see the damage from the pine beetle. Now a blight is attacking the hemlocks. I can't imagine the further changes we will see to these mountains.
Down the other side of the mountain the trail takes us through a gorge (watershed). This is a very rugged part of the trail. Noah did very well. It got a little tiring that he was avoiding "the lava" as we made our way through. There are two small water falls/ cascades that we have to climb down to continue on our way. I didn't take pictures of these. I guess I was too busy getting a little boy and a small highly freaked out dog through this area to stop and document the hike at this point. Daisy (the dog) perked up after the water falls. I guess she felt that if she could make it through that she could make it through anything. The dog did not enjoy the travel through the gorge and was very happy when we stepped onto a real trail on the last leg of our hike.
Over all it was a good hike. I think it took us just a little over two hours to hike the trail. There wasn't much to stop and look at plant wise so that probably sped us up some. |
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Mar. 27, 2008 - Young Naturalists
The kids belong to a little science group called the young naturalists. The kids get a lot of hands on science with this group. I think their favorite is stream ecology. They look for and identify creatures from streams, rivers and ponds. The also monitor water quality. 
After "class time" the kids always seem to enjoy each other afterwards.
It is never wrong to notice other things along the way:
 These little spring beauties are sweet.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Feb. 26, 2008 - Ukrainian Pysanky Egg Decorating
For years I have seen the Pysanky eggs and thought how neat it would be to do it with a group of people. So this year I took the leap and ordered all the supplies needed to do the egg decorating with a group and looked up history of the Ukrainian Pysanky. I have completed two of the three workshops that I lined up and overall I think they have worked out well so far. For me the difficult part is not how to do a craft or even how to teach the craft. I worry about having enough supplies to go around. I think I lose more sleep over whether or not I will have enough supplies.
I originally set the workshops for ages 9 and up. Since these workshops were for homeschool families I have let a couple of younger students into the workshops. This really does need to be done with older kids. The kistka was challenging for younger kids to use especially when lines were desired. If you are interested in trying this with your family I found a WONDERFUL website that will tell you all you need to know about supplies, steps, designs, tradition and symbol and color meaning.
The most important thing to know is that you can not use the dyes on boiled eggs. The eggs spoil after a few days and the dyes are not eatable. You will either need to blow out the eggs or keep them raw. On the website it has tips for keeping and storing raw eggs. The challenge with using eggs that are blown before dyeing is that empty eggs float! lol We solved this by placing rocks on top to hold down the eggs.
I hope you try this. Make sure you read through the pages on the website that I listed above. It has many good tips and information that will help you get started. I know there are kits that are sold that also will have instructions.
|
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Feb. 23, 2008 - A trip to the Aquarium
Recently we went to the Aquarium in Gatlinburg.....  spider crabs sea horse
 sea turtle
 jelly fish
It was fun to see some of the creatures we had been studying about.
Noah was quiet the ham, posing every chance he got. 
One of Emily's favorites are the blow fish. |
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Dec. 5, 2007 - mirrored images
Emily noticed this morning that the answers to the multiples of 9 mirror each other...
9 18 27 36 45 / 54 63 72 81 90
She asked me if I knew that... I told her no. She said I guess only someone who writes them backwards all the time would see that. There are days when Emily write 81 when she meant to write 18. |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 22, 2007 - Stupefied
As a homeschooler there always seems to be areas that I feel that I am lacking in my teaching. Vocabulary is one of the areas that I feel that I don't work on enough with Emily.
Last night Emily came in to tell me about a mess she had made in her room. She had gone to feed the chinchilla and had forgotten that the bag had a hole in the side not the top. When she went to pour the food into the bowl it just went every where. " I just stood their stupefied." For some reason that struck me as funny. I am not even sure where she got the word. |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 21, 2007 - Building
Just a few "schooling pictures".
Noah's calendar that he built turned into a ramp for his cars
Emily's became a bug catcher.
I always get tickled that what they build at these workshops never is used for its intended purpose.
Since I was posting building pictures I though I would show the beginning of a lego city that they worked on and I tripped over for a week and a half... until I sneakingly put it away. They both fussed when I told them to clean it up. They "worked so hard". But no one has noticed that I am no longer tripping on it and asked where it has gone. Maybe they just didn't want the job of cleaning it up.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 18, 2007 - A face only a mother could love
We visited the bug exhibit at the zoo the other day. Believe it or not Noah can be my reserved child at times. At least when it comes to new or unusual situations. I kept asking Noah if he wanted to go and see the man with the bugs. No... No.
After an hour the girls had already gone and done it all and Noah still acted like he wasn't interested in the live exhibit. The next thing I know...
Noah has a roach on his arm.
He even managed a word or two to the guy who was working the exhibit.
One more hilarious picture....
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 18, 2007 - More crocheting
Emily has finished another clothing item for Daisey. Here we have her all decked out in her outfits. It was a huge difficulty to get Daisey to stay in a position that we could get a picture of her with her new skirt. I don't know if she is camera shy or clothes shy.
After an afternoon of trying on clothes Daisey was wiped out....
|
Comments (2)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 21, 2006 - Critters
|
How can I tame this adventurous spirited girl to settle down and get
serious about school? (okay serious was the wrong word... but I can't
think of a better word right now) I understand and accept that she has
acquired so much knowledge about plants and animals, but it is not
getting the math and language completed. How can I convince her
that math and language are important? I have some vauge ideas, but I
guess I just am not creative enough to tie in her interests. I need
lots of suggestions.
|
Comments (2)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
|
|
|
|
